Main political parties in Northamptonshire begin search for new police commissioner
THE three main political parties in Northamptonshire have revealed they have started the search to find a candidate for the new position of Police and Crime Commissioner.
The Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats have all confirmed they intend to field a party candidate for the new role, which will come in following elections on November 15.
The new commissioner, once in post, will have powers to set police budgets, hire and fire chief constables and set local policing priorities. The role, which is likely to come with a hefty pay cheque, will be elected following a single county-wide vote.
MP for Northampton North, Michael Ellis, who is in charge of the Conservative election process, said applications were now coming in from people wanting to be the party’s candidate.
He said: “We’ve had several application already. The applications are open until at least March 31. Then we will have interviews to whittle it down to two or three candidates and we will choose a candidate from there.”
He said the party was looking for someone with the “requisite experience”, but stressed the candidate did not have to come from inside the party or with police experience.
The Tory MP added: “They are going to be required to live in Northamptonshire. After that we are just looking for someone to bring the requisite experience to the table, whether that is dealing with a high level business, with the armed services or people from the public sector.”
The Labour Party was due to close its application process last Friday. However, a decision was taken to extend the process nationally, with applicants now able to apply until the end of the month.
Councillor Brendan Glynane, leader of the Lib Dems at Northamptonshire County Council, said the party had voted in favour of taking part in the election and was hoping to find a candidate who had previously been approved to stand in parliamentary elections.
He said: “It could be somebody from outside the county, but personally, I would prefer someone locally.”
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There are 5 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Loki
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 07:05 AMI'd vote for Tony Clarke!
jimorourke
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 04:34 PMThe Crime and Police Commissioner's duty is to " Promote and enabling joined-up working on community safety". The existing community safety system does not work in Northamptonshire as the unilateral county council streetlighting switch off proves.
Real_Talk
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 03:50 PMwhere do i apply?
willi eckaslyke
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 11:54 AMWho decides on the winner?....Are the town's many bookies offering odds yet?
cobbler
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 10:53 AMI suggest we have Alan CARR .. Hull have already got an application from another comedian , John Prescott.
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